Analysis by an industry leader has examined how the type of borrower affects the likelihood of a mortgage default

Daniel Zadnik of Hawthorn Finance ranked strongly in this year's MPA Top Commercial Brokers list. He shares the secrets of his success.

You had a strong showing in this year's MPA Top Commercial Brokers list. To what do you attribute your success?

I think the simple thing is that we work hard on behalf of our clients to get them a commercial outcome, and that in turn leads to repeat business and ongoing word-of-mouth referrals. On the flipside, our lending partners have also been very supportive and work hard when provided the opportunity to work with us to try and achieve that outcome.

Have you made any changes in your business over the past year?

I think one thing not reflected in the settlement numbers is that we’ve actually done quite a lot of consulting work over the last financial year. We work with the existing lender to get a more favourable outcome, and we’ve worked with some fairly significant companies in that regard.

Is this kind of consulting a growth area in the commercial lending industry?

We have done it in the past, but it’s more a reflection of lenders working a lot harder to retain clients. There were periods like the GFC where banks didn’t work as hard to retain clients. Now we’re in a highly competitive market and banks are working a lot harder with the customer and broker for a better outcome.

What advice would you give residential brokers looking to diversify into commercial finance?

It’s certainly good to diversify your income streams, and we’ve done exactly that. We’ve probably done the reverse, in that we’ve diversified back into residential and equipment finance. The same is true if a mortgage broker has experience in commercial finance or perhaps can partner with a suitably qualified commercial broker in an area where they can work together.